Systems which provide connectivity between business entities are known. For example, many businesses utilize public telephone systems, proprietary networks, extranets, or other internet connections to exchange business information with other divisions, related companies, and third party businesses. In the case of product distribution networks, such business information is generally organized and stored in software application based databases at the various dealers. The information is useful to distributors, manufacturers and other upstream entities for planning purposes (e.g., manufacturing, shipping, and delivery schedules). Because of the wide range of business systems employed by the individual dealers, however, the systems are often not compatible either with other dealers and/or the upstream business entity. Accordingly, additional software programs, interfaces and tools are employed to overcome the discrepancies between the systems.
For example, oftentimes an Application Program Interface (“API”) is used to transfer data between the business system data base and other software. In such systems, steps include: extracting data and mapping data to and from an API format. In these types of systems, the API hooks into the dealer business system software, and so special programming is required. In such systems, an Enterprise Application Interface (“EAI”) is also utilized. The EAI translates data between the business system API and external trading partners. The steps undertaken by the EAI include transforming and mapping data between API format and an external format, as well as communicating with an external trading partner. While EAI's include generalized interface capabilities for many applications, they are provided by separate software vendors from the dealer business system software. Therefore, drawbacks of using API's and EAI's are the unique configurations and support required for each configuration. FIG. 1a illustrates one example of this type of system in the prior art.
In other systems, an Interface tool is used. This tool translates data between the business system data base and an external trading partner. Steps for this tool generally include: extracting data, mapping data to and from external formats and communicating the information with an external trading partner. The Interface tool may use an API or require changes to the business system. Drawbacks of this type of system include that the tool may have generalized features or be targeted to specific business partner relationships and specific business transactions. Further, the tool may be purchased from business system or other vendors and may be highly customized and highly integrated with the business system. FIG. 1b illustrates an example of this type of system in the prior art.
In still other systems, business-to-business (“B2B”) Integration Services may be used to provide the connectivity and data transfer. In these cases, vendors may provide an external interface function that includes any-to-any translation of data format or transport protocol and other services (best seen in FIG. 1b). Drawbacks for these systems include the additional inclusion of a layer of communication and associated costs.
There are prior attempts to overcome obstacles presented by differing resources across applications, enterprises, and networks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,080,092 discloses a system that generates an application view in order for a first application to access a second application without knowing functional details about the second application. U.S. Publication No. 2002/0178170 discloses a system which uses connectors that can be instantiated via downloading to provide interfaces to respective disparate database systems. U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,186 discloses a system that provides data transfers between first and second databases, across a network, in a substantially contemporaneous manner. However, these references do not overcome the issues of providing a system which is easily implemented regardless of the type of business system employed by the various dealers in a product distribution network.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus which is capable of interfacing with a variety of business systems, translating the data to a format required by an upstream distribution network entity, and transmitting the data to that entity without running the business system software or modifying or enhancing the business system software. The present invention also overcomes other shortcomings of the prior art and addresses these needs in the art.